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JONATHAN  RIGDON. 


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3i  8 


College  Ideals 


BY 

JONATHAN  RIGDON,  Ph.D. 

PRESIDENT  OF  WINONA 
COLLEGE 


INDIANA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
WINONA  LAKE,  INDIANA 


COLLEGE  IDEALS  ...  50  cents 
By  JONATHAN  RIGDON,  Ph.D. 

PRESIDENT  OF  WINONA  COLLEGE 


Copyright,  1915 
By  JONATHAN  RIGDON 


Nortoootr 

J.  8.  Cushing  Co.  — Berwick  & Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


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HIS  FORMER  STUDENTS 

IN  THE  CLASSROOM  AND  IN  TEACHERS’  INSTI- 
TUTES THIS  LITTLE  BOOK  IS  AFFECTIONATELY 
AND  GRATEFULLY  INSCRIBED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 
AS  A TOKEN  OF  HIS  CONTINUED  INTEREST 
IN  THEIR  WELFARE 

June  i,  1915. 


939 1 3 i 


mM'j 


FOREWORD 


The  title  is  slightly  misleading.  To 
be  accurate  it  should  read  : Some  Col- 
lege Ideals,  but  for  the  sake  of  brevity 
it  may  remain  as  it  is. 

The  contents  of  this  little  book  were 
prepared  for  an  address  delivered  at 
Winona  Lake  on  College  Day,  July 
1 6,  1914.  In  putting  it  forth  in 
printed  form  it  might  be  better  to 
modify  the  phraseology  and  eliminate 
all  reference  to  any  particular  college; 
but  upon  second  thought  it  was  decided 
to  print  it  as  it  was  originally  written 
and  spoken.  If  it  be  feared  by  any 
reader  that  such  particular  reference 
impairs  the  message  or  renders  it 
worthless  to  him,  he  has  been  warned 
in  time  and  continues  at  his  own  peril. 


VI 


Foreword 


The  author  issues  the  book  primarily 
for  his  friends  and  former  students.  If 
it  please  some  of  them,  their  pleasure 
shall  be  his  reward.  Incidentally,  how- 
ever, the  book  has  a serious  purpose 
and  seeks  a larger  field.  It  is  confi- 
dently believed  that  a careful  reading 
of  it  by  young  men  and  young  women 
early  in  their  college  course,  — or  be- 
fore they  begin  their  college  course, — 
will  enable  them  to  avoid  some  of  the 
most  costly  and  most  fatal  mistakes  of 
college  life  and  to  make  a college  edu- 
cation mean  vastly  more  than  it  com- 
monly does  mean.  That  other  college 
teachers,  school  principals  and  super- 
intendents, preachers,  and  directors  of 
youth  may  share  this  belief,  is  the  hope 
of  the  author. 

J.  R. 

Winona  Lake,  Indiana, 

June  1,  1915. 


COLLEGE  IDEALS 


YOU  will  believe  me,  I am 
sure,  when  I tell  you  that 
I prize  highly  the  privilege 
of  being  permitted  to  address  this 
body  of  students,  faculty,  and 
friends  on  this,  our  Winona  Col- 
lege Day.  I have  been  puzzled 
not  a little  to  find  an  appropriate 
name  for  what  I have  prepared 
to  say.  I am  not  sure  that  I 
have  succeeded.  If  at  the  end 
of  the  hour  you  decide  that  what 
I have  said  belongs  better  under 
another  heading,  you  are  at 
liberty  to  rechristen  it,  to  give 
it  a nickname,  or  let  it  go  with- 


2 


College  Ideals 


out  any  cognomen  at  all.  Dur- 
ing the  hour,  at  least,  I shall  ask 
you  to  try  to  think  whatever 
may  be  said  in  terms  of  College 
Ideals.  By  this  name  I wish  to 
designate  what  a college  stands 
for,  or  what  it  should  stand  for. 

If  we  as  individuals  are  to  keep 
ourselves  out  of  the  class  of  the 
submerged  nine  tenths,  we  must 
do  it  by  our  ideals.  The  same  is 
true  of  an  educational  institution. 
What  a college  stands  for  deter- 
mines whether  or  not  it  is  worthy 
to  stand  at  all. 

What  are  some  of  these  ideals  ? 
Some,  for  I make  no  pretense  of 
naming  them  all.  With  but  little 
help  from  me,  it  will  readily  ap- 
pear that  some  are  elemental, 
primary,  indispensable  things ; 


College  Ideals 


3 


while  others,  though  helpful,  are 
secondary  or  incidental.  I shall 
hope  that  you  will  allow  all  the 
things  that  I discuss  to  be  neces- 
sary to  the  highest  well-being  of  a 
college ; or,  if  we  disagree,  that  you 
will  at  least  hear  me  to  the  end. 

Work.  — First  of  all,  then,  let  me 
make  it  as  strong  as  I can  that  a 
college  has  merit  in  proportion 
as  it  holds  up  as  an  ideal  to  its 
students  hard  and  systematic 
work.  There  is  not  anything 
that  can  take  the  place  of  con- 
scientious effort  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  daily  lessons.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  there  must 
be  a strong  faculty.  Otherwise 
the  main  source  of  the  student’s 
inspiration  is  cut  off.  But  no 
brilliancy  on  the  part  of  the 


4 


College  Ideals 


teachers  will  compensate  for  the 
lack  of  industry  in  the  students. 

I believe  also  that  a college 
should  be  located  in  a beautiful 
park.  It  matters  much  where 
we  put  our  factories,  our  shops, 
and  our  stores ; but  the  students 
of  science  and  philosophy  and 
poetry  should  be  permitted  to 
come  and  go  among  the  flowers 
and  trees,  the  by-ways  and 
birdnotes,  the  landscape  and  the 
lake  and  the  open  sky.  All  this 
without  question  gives  the  mind  a 
proper  setting,  prepares  it  for  more 
efficient  study,  and  makes  possible 
larger  labor  with  less  fatigue.  But 
if  the  study  does  not  appear,  if  the 
labor  is  not  constant,  all  these  out- 
side things  will  not  avail.  I be- 
lieve too  that  if  it  is  possible  with- 


College  Ideals 


5 


out  exposing  immature  students  to 
the  dangers  of  a city,  they  should 
be  permitted  to  live  the  time  of 
their  largest  development  in  an  en- 
vironment of  music  and  art  and 
oratory  and  healthful  entertain- 
ment. No  student  can  work  all 
the  time  at  his  lessons.  If  he  is  so 
situated  that  in  his  rest  time  he 
can  hear  sermons  and  lectures  that 
are  uplifting,  listen  to  music  that 
is  inspiring,  look  at  pictures  that 
make  him  forget  his  hours  of  toil, 
it  is  better  and  not  worse,  it  is  a 
gain  and  not  a loss  to  his  college 
life,  to  his  entire  life.  But  not  any 
of  these  things  nor  all  of  them 
can  take  the  place  of  everyday 
drudgery  on  the  part  of  the  stu- 
dent. A summer  resort,  if  it  is 
kept  healthful  and  decent,  is  an 


6 


College  Ideals 


ideal  place  for  a college;  but  un- 
derstanding biology,  mastering  the 
laws  of  logic,  deriving  the  binomial 
formula,  reading  Horace,  or  even 
giving  an  intelligent  guess  at  what 
Browning  is  trying  to  have  us  get, 
— this  is  far  from  being  a summer 
resort. 

Complete  and  interesting,  even 
endurable,  college  life  must  have 
many  phases  besides  hard  study : 
There  should  be  some  athletics,  — 
baseball,  basket  ball,  and  possibly 
football ; there  must  be  the  debat- 
ing teams  and  some  public  discus- 
sions ; there  must  be  the  dramatic 
society  with  an  occasional  public 
appearance ; there  must  be  the 
physical  culture  drill  and  once  in  a 
while  an  entertainment  by  the 
class  in  elocution;  there  must  be 


College  Ideals 


7 


the  literary  and  the  choral  socie- 
ties; there  must  be  the  art  ex- 
hibits ; there  must  be  musical  and 
dramatic  recitals,  there  must  be 
readings,  contests,  and  entire  plays 
produced  by  the  students,  and  it 
may  be,  occasionally  a public  ad- 
dress by  the  president  on  College 
Ideals  ; — but  not  any  of  these  nor 
all  of  them  are  the  college.  They 
are  only  the  fringe  to  attract  public 
notice  and  make  people  know  there 
is  a college.  The  college  itself  is 
the  drudgery  of  daily  lessons,  it  is 
the  commonplace  of  everyday 
preparation,  recitation,  question, 
correction,  criticism,  and  explana- 
tion. 

A few  years  ago  the  Cornell 
Agricultural  College  invited  a num- 
ber of  farmers  to  visit  the  institu- 


8 


College  Ideals 


tion.  They  accepted  and  went  for 
the  day.  They  were  shown  the 
college  farm,  the  college  hogs  and 
cattle,  the  college  library,  the  col- 
lege campus,  and  the  college  build- 
ings. Late  in  the  afternoon  when 
they  were  about  ready  to  leave  for 
home,  after  a little  conference 
among  themselves,  one  of  them  said 
to  the  dean  that  if  it  would  not  be 
too  much  trouble,  they  would  like 
for  him  to  show  them  the  college. 
Now  the  question  in  the  mind  of 
this  unsophisticated  farmer  reveals 
clearly  enough  the  distinction  be- 
tween a college  and  its  accessories. 
If  I were  a preacher,  I would  take 
as  my  text  this  morning  the  old 
adage  about  putting  first  things 
first.  I wish  I might  present  to 
these  students  to-day,  and  as 


College  Ideals 


9 


strongly  as  I feel  it,  the  thought 
that  nine  tenths  of  the  value  of  a 
college  course  must  come  to  us,  if 
it  comes  at  all,  through  hard  work. 

Some  years  ago  Woodrow  Wil- 
son, in  an  address,  incidentally 
dropped  the  remark  that  a college 
is  not  unlike  a great  show,  with  its 
main  tent  and  its  many  side  shows. 
This  comparison  has  impressed 
me  so  that  I have  not  been  able  to 
forget  it.  I think  I might  just  as 
well  take  this  audience  into  my 
confidence  and  tell  you  why  I 
think  Mr.  Wilson’s  trivial  remark 
has  stayed  with  me : When  I was 
a boy,  I do  not  know  how  old,  but 
I hope  not  twenty-five,  I went  to 
my  first  great  circus.  My  father 
and  mother  did  not  go  with  me,  but 
allowed  me  to  go  sixteen  miles  in  a 


io  College  Ideals 

farm  wagon  with  some  neighbors. 
We  arrived  in  the  town.  The  great 
gray  city  of  canvas  tents  spread  out 
before  us,  more  wonderful  to  me 
than  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  One 
o’clock  came.  The  man  of  the 
party,  with  the  money  my  father 
had  sent  with  him,  purchased  my 
tickets,  — as  I learned  afterwards, 
one  for  50  cents,  one  for  25  cents, 
and  one  for  10  cents.  In  some  way 
I became  separated  from  my  party 
and  wandered  into  the  10  cent  tent. 
The  only  thing  it  contained  was  an 
educated  monkey  that  could  smoke 
a cigarette,  and  a man  who  made  a 
loud  noise  in  telling  how  wonderful 
was  the  feat  and  cited  it  as  posi- 
tive proof  that  the  lower  animals 
as  well  as  man  could  be  edu- 
cated. Many  other  people  as  well 


College  Ideals 


ii 


as  myself  were  watching  the  won- 
der, but  I failed  to  note  that  with 
one  single  exception  the  audience 
was  continually  changing.  I had 
been  told  at  home  not  to  leave  any 
performance  until  it  was  over. 
This  one  showed  no  signs  of  being 
over.  The  man  in  his  announce- 
ments became  louder  and  more  elo- 
quent and  the  audience  was  larger 
than  when  I entered.  Four  o’clock 
came,  I returned  to  the  wagon, 
found  my  party,  and  we  started 
home.  On  the  way  I was  asked 
how  I liked  the  children  in  their 
daring  trapeze  performance,  the 
horseback  riding,  the  clowns,  the 
fifty-seven  cages  of  wild  animals, 
groups  of  boys  posing  to  represent 
Greek  statuary,  and  John  Robinson 
himself  as  the  modern  Daniel  in 


12 


College  Ideals 


the  lions’  den.  But  I had  seen 
none  of  these  things.  What  had  I 
seen  ? Only  an  educated  monkey 
smoking  a cigarette. 

Now  the  aptness  of  Mr.  Wilson’s 
comparison  is  greater  than  any  of 
you  on  the  outside  can  suspect. 
Many  and  many  a young  man  goes 
away  to  school,  pays  his  carfare, 
tuition,  board,  room,  laundry,  and 
book  bills,  and  then  settles  down 
contentedly  in  some  side  tent  of 
the  institution  to  admire  a gang 
of  his  distant  relations  smoking 
cigarettes. 

Even  young  women  are  not  al- 
ways free  from  this  mistake.  More 
than  once  I have  known  it  to  hap- 
pen that  a father  and  mother  would 
make  great  sacrifice  to  send  their 
daughter  to  college  only  to  learn, 


College  Ideals 


13 


when  it  was  too  late,  that  the  girl 
had  got  so  mixed  up  with  a monkey 
that  she  had  missed  the  main  show. 

The  application  I leave  for  you 
to  make,  but  I beg  you  to  believe 
that  the  chief  concern  of  the  college 
should  be  the  daily  lessons  of  its 
students. 

Forget  my  words  if  you  will,  but 
let  me  beg  every  college  student  to 
catch  the  inspiration  in  Angela 
Morgan’s  Song  of  Triumph  on 
Work,  printed  in  the  Outlook  of 
December  2,  1914. 

Work! 

Thank  God  for  the  might  of  it, 

The  ardor,  the  urge,  the  delight  of  it  — 
Work  that  springs  from  the  heart’s  desire, 
Setting  the  soul  and  the  brain  on  fire. 

Oh,  what  is  so  good  as  the  heat  of  it, 

And  what  is  so  glad  as  the  beat  of  it, 


H 


College  Ideals 


And  what  is  so  kind  as  the  stern  command 
Challenging  brain  and  heart  and  hand  ? 

Work ! 

Thank  God  for  the  pride  of  it, 

For  the  beautiful,  conquering  tide  of  it, 
Sweeping  the  life  in  its  furious  flood, 
Thrilling  the  arteries,  cleansing  the  blood, 
Mastering  stupor  and  dull  despair, 

Moving  the  dreamer  to  do  and  dare. 

Oh,  what  is  so  good  as  the  urge  of  it, 

And  what  is  so  glad  as  the  surge  of  it, 

And  what  is  so  strong  as  the  summons  deep 
Rousing  the  torpid  soul  from  sleep  ? 

Work! 

Thank  God  for  the  pace  of  it, 

For  the  terrible,  keen,  swift  race  of  it; 
Fiery  steeds  in  full  control, 

Nostrils  aquiver  to  greet  the  goal. 

Work,  the  power  that  drives  behind, 
Guiding  the  purposes,  taming  the  mind, 
Holding  the  runaway  wishes  back, 

Reining  the  will  to  one  steady  track, 
Speeding  the  energies  faster,  faster, 


College  Ideals 


15 


Triumphing  over  disaster. 

Oh,  what  is  so  good  as  the  pain  of  it, 

And  what  is  so  great  as  the  gain  of  it, 

And  what  is  so  kind  as  the  cruel  goad, 
Forcing  us  on  through  the  rugged  road  ? 

Work! 

Thank  God  for  the  swing  of  it, 

For  the  clamoring,  hammering  ring  of  it, 
Passion  of  labor  daily  hurled 
On  the  mighty  anvils  of  the  world.  . . . 
Oh,  what  is  so  fierce  as  the  flame  of  it, 

And  what  is  so  high  as  the  aim  of  it, 
Thundering  on  through  dearth  and  doubt, 
Calling  the  plan  of  the  Maker  out; 

Work,  the  Titan ; work,  the  friend, 
Shaping  the  earth  to  a glorious  end ; 
Draining  the  swamps  and  blasting  the  hills, 
Doing  whatever  the  spirit  wills, 

Rending  a continent  apart 
To  answer  the  dream  of  the  Master 
heart.  . . . 

Thank  God  for  a world  where  none  may 
shirk, 

Thank  God  for  the  splendor  of  work  ! 


1 6 College  Ideals 

Religion.  — Religion  is  now  al- 
most universally  conceded  to  be 
an  essential  element  of  human  life. 
In  the  great  laboratory  of  history 
it  has  been  as  well  settled  as  his- 
tory can  settle  anything  that  a life, 
individual  or  national,  without  re- 
ligion is  impotent  and  incomplete. 
It  should  therefore  be  the  aim  of 
every  college,  not  to  emphasize  the 
antagonism  between  religion  and 
reason,  but  rather  to  show  the 
reasonableness  of  religion  as  a fac- 
tor of  life. 

It  need  not  be  Methodist,  or 
Presbyterian,  or  Baptist,  but  a use- 
ful college  must  be  religious.  If 
it  exists  primarily  or  chiefly  to 
teach  the  tenets  of  any  particular 
sect  or  denomination,  it  is  not  a 
college,  but  a theological  factory. 


College  Ideals 


17 


That  God,  in  some  way,  his  own 
way,  created  the  world,  is  its  pre- 
server and  its  ruler ; that  he  is  the 
author  of  human  life;  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  son  of  God  and  is  to 
be  the  world’s  savior  so  far  as  it 
will  allow  itself  to  have  a savior,  — 
these,  if  I am  not  mistaken,  are  the 
essentials  of  religion  toward  which 
no  college  can  afford  to  be  in- 
different. Sometimes,  however,  in 
our  foolish  enthusiasm  for  the  in- 
cidentals we  drive  students  away 
from  the  essentials.  We  cannot 
save  religion  by  destroying  science 
and  reason ; we  cannot  make  men 
devout  by  keeping  them  ignorant. 
Whenever  a teacher  from  the  ros- 
trum or  a preacher  from  the  pulpit 
holds  up  to  ridicule  any  theory  or 
doctrine  which  science  counts  well 


1 8 College  Ideals 

settled,  he  hurts  real  religion  in- 
stead of  helping  it.  That  God 
created  the  world,  — this  it  is  the 
business  of  religion  to  believe. 
The  way  or  method  by  which  he 
created  the  world,  — this  it  is  the 
problem  of  science  to  find  out.  I 
wish  to  be  specific  and  declare  that 
the  scholarship  of  the  world  is  not 
able  to  point  to  a conflict  between 
the  modern  doctrine  of  evolution, 
which  seeks  to  find  out  the  way  in 
which  the  world  was  created,  and 
the  essentials  of  religion,  one  of 
which  is  that  God  created  the 
world. 

Let  us  then  as  a college  remem- 
ber that  wise  training  in  the  essen- 
tials of  religion  is  an  important  part 
of  our  work;  but  let  us  as  a com- 
munity be  mindful  that  the  sin  of 


College  Ideals 


19 


narrowness  is  the  one  from  which 
the  world  has  suffered  most,  and 
that  bigness,  breadth,  charity, 
reasonableness,  has  always  been 
and  must  always  be  its  salvation. 

There  are  two  boundaries  that  it 
will  do  well  for  every  college  man 
to  mark.  One  is  the  boundary 
that  separates  religion  from  un- 
religion. This  is  a chasm  that 
every  day  grows  wider  and  deeper 
and  more  impassable.  No  college 
can  command  the  respect  and  the 
patronage  of  our  people  if  the  pur- 
pose of  its  existence  is  to  combat 
true  religion.  And  no  individual 
whose  education  has  left  him  an- 
tagonistic or  even  indifferent  to  the 
essentials  of  religion  can  hope  to 
have  large  efficiency  for  twentieth- 
century  social  service.  The  other 


20 


College  Ideals 


boundary  is  that  which  in  the  past 
has  kept  the  different  denomina- 
tions apart  and  has  caused  them 
to  spend  in  fighting  each  other  and 
in  fostering  ill  feeling  the  time  and 
money  and  talents  that  should 
have  been  employed  in  Christian- 
izing the  world.  Less  than  fifty 
years  ago,  and  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
a preacher  in  my  own  church  said 
to  a Presbyterian  preacher:  “I 
greet  you  as  a gentleman  but  not 
as  a preacher.”  To  which  the 
Presbyterian  brother  is  said  to  have 
made  the  very  fitting  response  : “I 
greet  you  as  a preacher  but  not  as 
a gentleman.”  Let  us  thank  God 
that  these  silly  sectarian  bound- 
aries have  become  so  low  that  any 
high-minded  man  can  easily  step 
over  them. 


College  Ideals 


21 


Morality.  — Closely  connected 
with  the  religious  influences  of  a 
college  is  its  moral  atmosphere. 
Whatever  course  a student  takes 
he  must  be  provided  with  an  op- 
portunity to  develop  a keen  recog- 
nition of  the  distinction  between 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong, 
and  so  far  as  possible  his  inclina- 
tion toward  the  right  and  from 
the  wrong  must  be  strengthened. 
Without  this,  no  education  can 
fit  a man  or  a woman  for  social 
efficiency.  The  essentials  of  mo- 
rality, like  those  of  religion,  are 
comparatively  simple : There  is 
such  a thing  as  right.  The  obliga- 
tion to  do  it  is  never  absent.  In 
claiming  our  own  rights  we  are 
bound  to  be  mindful  of  the  rights 
of  others.  Simple  enough,  but  a 


22 


College  Ideals 


very  important  part  of  one’s  edu- 
cation. State  institutions  have 
been  criticized,  and  not  always  un- 
justly, for  a moral  shortcoming  in 
the  student  body,  but  in  this  re- 
spect our  denominational  colleges 
are  also  not  free  from  blame. 
Sometimes  it  happens  in  these 
institutions  that  some  students 
make  the  mistake  of  assuming  that 
the  formality  of  regular  attendance 
upon  religious  services  gives  them 
a kind  of  right  to  be  lax  in  their 
moral  obligations.  So,  students 
have  been  known  to  go  directly 
from  a Y.  M.  C.  A.  service  of  Bible 
reading  and  testimony  and  prayer 
to  another  meeting  in  which  gam- 
bling and  profanity  and  cigarette 
smoking  and  whisky  and  vulgar- 
ity were  all  strongly  in  evidence. 


College  Ideals 


23 


These  young  men  must  have 
thought,  if  they  thought  at  all, 
that  their  religious  formality  so  far 
absolved  them  from  all  sins  past 
and  future  that  they  might  do  with 
impunity  what  they  would.  But 
this  is  clearly  an  undue  extension 
of  the  doctrine  of  atonement. 
Such  practices  on  the  part  of  stu- 
dents invite  unfair  criticism  upon 
the  institution  and  bring  injury  to 
the  alumni.  More  is  expected  of 
institutions  like  our  own  that  claim 
to  be  Christian,  and  greater  is  the 
injury  of  a shortcoming. 

A few  years  ago  a boy  with  whom 
I was  well  acquainted  finished  his 
high  school  course  in  central 
Indiana,  and  naturally  enough 
began,  with  the  help  of  his  father, 
to  look  round  for  a Christian  col- 


24 


College  Ideals 


lege  in  which  to  continue  his  edu- 
cation. At  the  suggestion  of  the 
mother  they  agreed  upon  one  sup- 
ported by  their  own  church.  In 
response  to  an  inquiry  there  came 
an  invitation  to  visit  the  college 
and  attend  a banquet.  The  boy 
accepted.  To  his  astonishment  he 
found  that  for  the  last  course  in 
the  very  elaborate  dinner  each  of 
the  dozen  or  more  high  school 
graduates,  away  from  home  for  the 
first  time,  all  aglow  with  enthusiasm 
to  catch  their  first  glimpse  of  college 
ideals,  was  handed  from  a silver 
platter  and  upon  a china  plate,  a 
cigarette  and  a match.  There  were 
toasts  at  the  dinner.  Much  em- 
phasis was  placed  upon  the  fact 
that  the  institution  was  a Christian 
college  and  was  run  by  the  church 


College  Ideals 


25 


in  which  the  young  men  had  been 
brought  up.  It  was  further 
pointed  out  that  every  member  of 
the  fraternity  giving  the  dinner  was 
a Christian  young  man,  regular  in 
his  attendance  at  church,  Sunday 
school,  and  prayer  meeting.  It  was 
also  made  known  to  the  dozen 
strangers  that  in  addition  to  being 
Christians  the  college  atmosphere 
had  helped  the  fraternity  men  to  be 
also  gentlemen,  able  to  smoke  a 
cigarette  without  injury,  dance  with- 
out being  awkward,  gamble  with- 
out losing  respectability,  drink 
occasionally  without  becoming  in- 
toxicated, and  swear  without  being 
profane.  Any  fraternity  or  organi- 
zation that,  intentionally  or  other- 
wise, helps  college  boys  to  acquire 
such  ideals,  does  an  irreparable  in- 


26  College  Ideals 

jury  to  the  institution  it  professes 
to  serve. 

Social  Improvement.  — A college 
education  should  contribute  much 
to  the  improvement  of  social  life. 
Not  the  so-called  “high-life,”  which, 
as  a rule,  is  fast  and  foolish  life; 
but  the  common,  unspectacular, 
substantial  social  life,  in  which 
each  student  as  a man  or  a woman 
may  reasonably  be  expected  to  par- 
ticipate. A college  course  has  not 
discharged  its  whole  obligation 
when  it  has  merely  increased  our 
knowledge  and  sharpened  our  wits 
as  individuals.  It  owes  to  its 
graduates  also  an  increased  social 
efficiency  that  will  enable  them 
more  effectively  and  with  less 
friction  to  live  together  in  the  home, 
the  church,  the  lodge,  the  factory, 


College  Ideals 


27 


and  in  all  other  groups  to  which 
they  may  belong. 

A college  education  should  en- 
able a young  man  and  a young 
woman  to  reduce  if  necessary  the 
cost  of  living  without  diminishing 
the  happiness  of  their  home.  It 
should  enable  them  to  look  at  a 
long  list  of  things  it  is  possible  to 
desire  and  pick  out  the  few  that 
are  really  essential  to  genuine  hap- 
piness, and  leave  without  regret 
the  many  that  would  only  increase 
their  care,  create  ostentation,  pro- 
duce insincerity,  and  fail  to  satisfy. 

A college  education  should  make 
a man  willing  to  give  and  deter- 
mined to  have  a square  deal,  even 
if  he  has  to  fight  for  it.  It  should 
make  him  care  more  for  the  sincere 
wherever  he  sees  it,  and  hate 


28  College  Ideals 

harder  the  sham  in  whatever  form 
he  finds  it. 

A college  education  should  even 
enable  a man  better  to  choose  the 
wife  with  whom  he  is  to  live  and 
labor  and  strive  to  solve  their 
common  problems  and  to  work  out 
together  their  fortune  and  their 
future.  Here  as  elsewhere  it  will 
enable  him  to  sense  the  sincere,  to 
detect  the  sham,  to  distinguish 
nature  from  art.  Not  only  will  a 
college  course  enable  him  better  to 
choose  her;  its  discipline  will  give 
him  the  fortitude  to  bear  his  lot 
with  patience  and  resignation  if 
she  turns  him  down.  It  may  even 
give  him  that  invaluable  philosophy 
of  life  which  teaches  a man  that 
next  to  the  happiness  that  comes 
from  the  goods  we  attain  should  be 


College  Ideals 


29 


placed  the  gratitude  for  the  ills  we 
have  missed. 

I take  it  that  this  is  true  of  almost 
every  married  man  here  to-day : 
Of  all  the  blessings  that  have  ever 
hung  above  his  horizon  he  should 
be  most  grateful  for  the  wife  that 
he  got;  and  next  he  should  thank 
his  stars  oftenest  for  the  two  or 
ten  or  twenty  others  whom  he  once 
thought  he  could  not  live  without 
but  whom  a kind  providence  helped 
him  to  miss. 

This  bit  of  life  philosophy  I 
give  the  unmarried  men  of  my 
audience  and  particularly  the  re- 
jected men  of  my  audience.  I 
learned  it  a few  years  ago  while 
going  with  my  teacher  and  his 
class  in  psychiatry  through  a Mas- 
sachusetts hospital  for  the  insane. 


3° 


College  Ideals 


The  first  cell  he  took  us  to  was  that 
of  a man  completely  beside  him- 
self, wholly  unable  to  distinguish 
the  real  from  the  imaginary,  but 
not  violent  and  probably  not  very 
different  from  what  he  had  always 
been.  All  the  time  he  stood  before 
a bed  post,  which  he  gently  stroked 
and  to  which  he  kept  repeating 
such  sentiments  as:  “You  are 
more  inspiring  than  all  the  muses. 
Your  beauty  alone  would  satisfy 
all  my  wants.  You  are  as  gentle 
as  an  angel,”  etc.  We  asked  the 
physician  who  he  was  and  what 
had  demented  him.  He  told  us 
that  he  went  by  the  name  of  No. 
One,  that  he  was  only  temporarily 
deranged  by  the  refusal  of  a very 
beautiful  girl  three  months  before. 
Then  we  went  down  a flight  of 


College  Ideals 


3i 


stairs  into  the  basement,  where  the 
incurables  were  kept.  The  doctor 
took  us  to  a room  with  no  windows 
and  no  glass  doors.  He  allowed  us 
to  look  over  the  transom  at  a man 
violently  insane.  The  walls  of  his 
room  were  all  heavily  padded,  and 
constantly  he  kept  backing  out  and 
running  with  all  his  might  and  butt- 
ing his  head  against  the  wall.  Of 
course  we  were  anxious  to  know  the 
cause  of  the  great  calamity.  The 
doctor  made  no  explanation.  All 
we  could  get  out  of  him  was : 
“ He  is  the  man  who  married  the 
girl  that  refused  No.  One.” 

College  Spirit.  — College  spirit  is 
another  ideal,  of  minor  importance 
it  may  be,  but  yet  of  inestimable 
value.  It  is  hard  to  define  and 
many  times  misunderstood.  So 


32 


College  Ideals 


far  as  I understand  it,  it  is  a 
loyalty  among  the  students,  deep 
but  not  necessarily  loud.  It 
springs  from  the  students’  belief 
that  the  institution  is  sincere  in  its 
motives  and  honest  in  its  endeavor 
to  help  young  men  and  young 
women. 

The  essence  of  college  spirit  is 
enthusiasm.  College  students  can- 
not be  dead,  dull,  stale,  unprofit- 
able, indifferent,  lifeless  things. 
They  cannot  mope  and  poke  around 
and  yawn  and  sleep,  for  the  soul  is 
dead  that  slumbers  and  these  spirit- 
less people  are  precisely  the  worth- 
less things  that  they  seem.  Col- 
lege spirit  makes  one  awake,  alert, 
on  his  guard,  afire  with  enthusi- 
asm to  do  something.  Do  what  ? 
That  depends  upon  the  kind  of 


College  Ideals 


33 


college  spirit  one  has.  And  that 
in  turn  depends  upon  the  ideals  of 
the  institution.  For  these,  the 
president,  the  faculty,  the  trustees, 
the  alumni,  and  the  student  body 
are  jointly  and  severally  to  be  held 
accountable. 

There  are  at  least  two  distinct 
types  of  college  spirit.  One  is  the 
roughhouse  brand  that  burns  build- 
ings, breaks  up  theater  parties, 
disturbs  public  meetings,  smears 
red  paint  on  beautiful  buildings, 
and  disfigures  sidewalks  with  the 
number  of  the  year  in  which,  by 
the  mercy  of  God  and  the  leniency 
of  the  faculty,  the  midnight  prowler 
is  supposed  to  complete  his  course 
of  study.  This  kind  of  college 
spirit  is  never  helpful,  but  always 
hurtful,  to  the  institution.  It  may 


34 


College  Ideals 


go  right  along  with  the  bolting  of 
recitations,  disrespect  for  the 
faculty,  and  complete  indifference 
for  the  welfare  of  the  school. 

This  kind  of  college  spirit  misses 
completely  the  perspective  of  col- 
lege life,  of  all  life.  It  subordinates 
the  course  of  study  to  games  and 
sports.  It  degrades  college  ath- 
letics by  mixing  with  them  com- 
mercialism and  professionalism.  It 
plays,  but  does  not  play  the  game. 
It  loses  sight  completely  of  the  dis- 
cipline that  comes  from  a lost  game 
coupled  with  the  consciousness  of 
clean  play.  It  would  rather  play 
dirty  and  win  than  play  clean  and 
lose.  It  needs  a bath.  Here  it  is  : 

VOTE  LAMPADA 

There’s  a breathless  hush  in  the  Close 
to-night  — 


College  Ideals 


35 


Ten  to  make  and  the  match  to  win  — 

A bumping  pitch  and  a blinding  light, 

An  hour  to  play  and  the  last  man  in. 

And  it’s  not  for  the  sake  of  a ribboned  coat, 
Or  the  selfish  hope  of  a season’s  fame, 

But  his  captain’s  hand  on  his  shoulder 
smote  — 

“ Play  up ! play  up ! and  play  the 
game  !” 

The  sand  of  the  desert  is  sodden  red  — 
Red  with  the  wreck  of  a square  that 
broke  — 

The  gatling’s  jammed  and  the  colonel  dead, 
And  the  regiment  blind  with  dust  and 
smoke. 

The  river  of  death  has  brimmed  his  banks. 
And  England’s  far,  and  honor  a name. 

But  the  voice  of  a schoolboy  rallies  the 
ranks, 

“ Play  up  ! play  up  ! and  play  the  game  ! ” 

This  is  the  word  that  year  by  year, 

While  in  her  place  the  School  is  set, 

Every  one  of  her  sons  must  hear, 


36  College  Ideals 

And  none  that  hears  it  dare  forget. 

This  they  all  with  a joyful  mind 

Bear  through  life  like  a torch  in  flame, 
And,  falling,  fling  to  the  host  behind  — 

“ Play  up  ! play  up  ! and  play  the  game  ! ” 
— Henry  Newbolt. 

Then  there  is  that  college  spirit 
which  is  never  noisy,  but  which 
never  fails  to  let  others  know  the 
good  the  institution  is  doing.  The 
progress  of  a college  depends  quite 
as  much  upon  such  a spirit  in  its 
student  body  as  upon  the  labors  of 
the  president  and  faculty.  Every 
school  can  furnish  examples.  I 
shall  give  but  a few. 

Nearly  two  years  ago  I received 
a letter  from  Miss  Faye  Brecken- 
ridge,  saying : I greatly  appreciate 
what  Winona  College  has  done  for 
me  and  am  telling  it  to  my  friends 


College  Ideals 


37 


in  Colorado.  I am  teaching  my 
first  school  and  have  just  drawn 
my  first  pay.  Here  is  $5  of  it. 
Sister  Marie  also  sends  $5.  We 
both  wish  we  could  send  more. 
Please  use  this  $10  in  any  way  that 
will  make  the  college  more  helpful 
to  students. 

This  may  sound  to  you  like  a 
fish  story,  constructed  by  my  imagi- 
nation and  read  only  to  hint  to 
you  what  to  do  with  your  first 
salaries ; but  if  you  will  come  to  the 
college  office,  I will  show  you  the 
letter  the  substance  of  which  I 
have  quoted,  and  then  if  you  will 
visit  the  dining  room  of  our  do- 
mestic science  department,  I will 
show  you  the  dishes,  knives,  forks, 
and  spoons  which  the  $10  helped 
to  pay  for. 


38 


College  Ideals 


Another  example : During  the 
present  year  the  young  women  of 
the  college  raised  the  money,  about 
$150,  purchased  rugs  for  our  chapel 
stage  and  shades  for  all  the  100 
windows  of  the  Mount  Memorial 
Building,  and  our  1914  college 
graduates  installed  at  their  own 
expense  a beautiful  drinking  foun- 
tain in  the  Mount. 

At  any  rate,  let  me  commend  to 
you  this  as  the  right  kind  of  col- 
lege spirit  and  congratulate  our 
own  institution  for  having  so  much 
of  it. 

Pride.  — Pride,  the  right  kind 
of  pride,  is  another  college  ideal 
which  every  course  of  study  should 
stimulate  in  its  students.  A man 
without  pride  cannot  aspire.  In- 
deed he  will  not  long  keep  himself 


College  Ideals 


39 


decent.  One  who  has  gone  through 
the  eight  grades,  worked  through 
a four-year  high  school  course,  and 
in  addition  to  that  has  done  the 
drudgery  of  a four-year  college 
course  has  a right  to  be  proud. 

Pride  is  strong  enough  in  most 
of  us.  It  needs  not  so  much  to  be 
strengthened  as  to  be  directed. 
There  is  a false  as  well  as  a true 
pride.  A school  or  college  can  do 
few  better  things  for  a boy  or 
young  man  than  to  help  him  to  see 
what  things  he  may  and  what 
things  he  may  not  be  proud  of. 

Any  man  has  a right  to  be  proud 
of  what  he  is  and  what  he  has  done ; 
no  man,  of  what  he  owns  or  what 
he  has  on.  One  of  the  best  illus- 
trations I have  ever  had  of  mis- 
directed pride  came  to  me  one 


40 


College  Ideals 


night  a number  of  years  ago  on  a 
boat  between  Providence  and  New 
York.  Among  the  number  of  us 
who  were  unable  to  secure  state- 
rooms for  the  night  there  was  a 
young  man  with  front  locks  of  long, 
bushy  hair.  On  the  crown  of  his 
head,  throughout  the  night,  he 
wore  a cap  but  little  larger  than  a 
postage  stamp.  He  kept  himself 
constantly  in  view  of  a group  of 
girls  and  seemed  to  be  enamored  of 
the  tuft  of  hair  that  fell  over  his 
receding  forehead  and  proud  of  the 
skill  with  which  he  could  toss  it 
back.  He  was  proud  also  of  the 
cap  on  the  crown,  which  was  just 
large  enough  to  say  to  the  eye : 
“Come  on  back  here,  there’s  noth- 
ing going  on  up  in  front.”  Now  I 
assure  you  I do  not  mention  this 


College  Ideals 


41 


incident  to  criticize  the  boy,  but 
only  to  let  it  illustrate  a type  of 
misdirected  pride  of  which  we  are 
all  at  times  guilty  and  which  it  is 
the  business  of  the  college  to 
eliminate. 

For  illustrations  of  this  irrational 
pride  we  are  unfortunately  not 
obliged  to  go  to  boys  with  receding 
foreheads.  About  a year  ago  a 
woman  of  central  Indiana,  whose 
husband  had  suddenly  become  rich, 
conceived  the  brilliant  idea  of 
wearing  diamonds  in  her  shoe 
heels.  And  so  she  did.  When  she 
had  provided  herself  with  half  a 
hundred  pairs  of  shoes,  the  heels  of 
which  were  all  set  and  scintillating 
with  the  precious  gems,  she  set 
out  upon  a tour  to  conquer  New 
York  and  Washington  and  the 


42 


College  Ideals 


East.  For  a time  all  the  yellow 
papers  of  the  United  States  flashed 

forth  the  brilliancy  of  Mrs.  ’s 

shoe  heels. 

Again  I wish  it  to  be  understood 
that  I am  not  criticizing  the  woman. 
She  was  entirely  within  her  rights. 
Any  woman  who  prefers  to  have 
the  strange  men  of  the  street  stare 
at  her  heels  rather  than  to  have 
the  people  of  her  community  ad- 
mire her  mind  for  reflecting  the 
beauties  of  Browning  and  Tenny- 
son, deserves  credit  for  the  good 
judgment  that  tells  her  in  what 
part  of  her  personality  the  greater 
promise  lies.  I am  likewise  grate- 
ful that  the  style  she  launched 
did  not  become  general.  I be- 
lieve I am  safe  in  saying  that 
not  a single  lady  member  of  our 


College  Ideals 


43 


faculty  has  adopted  diamonds  for 
her  shoe  heels. 

Pride  will  help  mightily  in  the 
saving  of  men  and  women,  but  it 
must  be  of  the  right  kind.  Not 
pride  in  clothes  or  wealth,  but  pride 
in  one’s  own  achievement,  — this 
is  always  commendable,  never 
harmful.  This  pride,  pride  in 
achievement,  the  college  should 
help  its  young  men  and  women  to 
cultivate,  and  they  in  turn  will 
save  the  college. 

Interest.  — The  college  must  im- 
part knowledge,  accurate  and  defi- 
nite, and  so  well  organized  that  it 
may  be  used.  It  must  provide  the 
student  with  an  opportunity  to 
develop  the  power  of  forceful,  in- 
dependent, and  consecutive  think- 
ing. But  a greater  function  is  the 


44 


College  Ideals 


creation  of  interest.  What  is  the 
very  essence  of  life  ? Certainly 
not  food  and  clothing  and  shelter. 
These  we  must  have,  but  the  things 
that  our  lives  really  feed  upon  are 
our  interests.  The  truly  rich  man 
is  the  one  whose  life  is  filled  with 
interests,  large  and  intense ; and 
the  poor  man,  he  whose  life  is 
dead  and  dull  and  destitute  of  in- 
terest. 

We  must  accept  the  philosophy 
of  our  friends  who  insist  upon  the 
simple  life,  but  not  for  the  mind. 
The  real  value  of  one’s  life  lies  in 
the  breadth  and  intensity  of  his 
thought ; but  plain  living  is  not  a 
hindrance  but  rather  a help  to 
large  and  high  thinking.  So  far  as 
the  mind  is  concerned  life  must  be 
elaborate,  not  simple. 


College  Ideals 


45 


The  college  makes  a mistake 
when  its  chief  aim  is  the  creation 
of  specialists  whose  lives  are  neces- 
sarily narrow.  Specialization  is 
the  exclusive  function  of  the  uni- 
versity and  the  technical  school, 
not  of  the  college.  Life  is  only 
the  exercise  of  interests.  Death 
is  the  realization  that  one  has  no 
interests  to  exercise.  Littleness  of 
life  is  almost  our  only  danger; 
largeness  of  life  our  only  safety. 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  says  in 
his  autobiography  that  he  never 
had  a dull  hour  in  his  life.  A rare 
testimony.  How  far  we  are  able 
to  approach  it  will  be  determined 
by  the  largeness  of  our  lives,  the 
range  of  our  interests.  The  records 
of  our  insane  hospitals  show  that 
while  the  mental  lives  of  a few 


46 


College  Ideals 


may  have  been  distracted  by  diver- 
sity of  interest,  the  lives  of  many, 
many  more  have  been  literally 
starved  by  nothing  to  think  of  and 
nothing  to  care  about. 

Wants  and  satisfactions  are  cor- 
relative things.  Most  of  us  spend 
our  lives  as  if  our  only  concern  was 
to  provide  satisfactions  for  our 
wants,  but  if  I am  not  mistaken, 
one  of  the  chief  functions  of  a col- 
lege is  to  create  wants  for  the  satis- 
factions God  has  put  into  his  world. 
Poverty  is  always  a lack,  a need, 
and  is  always  painful.  But  we 
need  to  be  reminded,  as  we  have 
been  reminded,  that  there  are  two 
kinds  of  poverty : There  is  lack 
of  goods  for  higher  wants,  and  this 
is  bad  ; then  there  is  lack  of  wants 
for  higher  goods,  and  this  is  in- 


College  Ideals 


47 


finitely  worse.  To  have  a hungry 
mouth  and  nothing  to  eat,  this  is 
painful  and  inconvenient ; but  to 
have  lying  all  about  you  good  things 
to  eat  and  no  mouth  to  eat  them, 
this  is  certainly  not  less  undesirable. 
A body  shivering  in  the  cold  and 
no  clothes  to  put  on  it,  pain  and 
poverty  we  must  admit ; but 
clothes  galore  and  no  body  to  put 
them  on,  this  is  an  equally  unpleas- 
ing prospect.  Now  this  has  an 
easy  and  significant  application  to 
our  mental  lives.  Think  for  a 
moment  of  minds  thirsting  for 
knowledge  and  no  things  to  learn, 
pain  and  poverty  again;  but  a 
world  full  of  fascinating  things  to  be 
learned  and  no  minds  to  learn 
them,  — this  would  be  the  supreme 
tragedy  of  all  the  ages.  Let  in- 


48 


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terest  be  absent  and  we  have  this 
death  of  the  mental  life. 

The  dead  man  is  he  whose  mind 
is  destitute  of  interest.  Nine 
tenths  of  an  education  should  be 
the  creation  of  interests.  A course 
of  study  is  only  a means,  and  the 
mastery  of  a branch  only  an  inci- 
dent. Interests  may  arise  apart 
from  school  and  may  fail  to  arise 
in  school ; but  it  is  true  now,  and 
through  all  the  future  it  must  re- 
main true,  that,  with  all  its  short- 
comings, the  school  is  the  greatest 
institution  available  for  creating 
interests.  It  is  to  be  accounted 
both  a gain  and  a loss  that  the 
business  of  teaching  our  largest 
and  most  important  lesson  — that 
of  our  spiritual  relations  — the 
school  has  turned  over  to  the 


College  Ideals 


49 


church.  These  relations  can  be 
apprehended  only  through  in- 
struction, and  this  is  the  cue  from 
which  the  church  must  take  its 
bearings.  Its  efficiency  will  end 
whenever  it  ceases  to  be  a teacher 
or  whenever  it  forgets  the  lesson  it 
is  its  mission  to  teach.  We  of  the 
school  may  prove  our  place  and 
point  with  pride  to  Mark  Hopkins 
and  Horace  Mann ; but  the  church, 
to  establish  its  right  to  be  a teacher, 
needs  only  to  point  to  the  Man  of 
Galilee,  who  was  even  greater  as 
teacher  than  as  preacher,  — or 
shall  I say,  was  the  greatest 
preacher  the  world  has  ever  known 
in  that  he  was  the  greatest  teacher 
the  world  has  ever  known  ? 

Of  the  shortcomings  of  the 
church  in  teaching  the  lessons  that 


So 


College  Ideals 


have  been  allotted  to  it,  many 
others  are  better  able  to  speak,  but 
I am  very  sure  there  are  some  de- 
fects in  the  school  due  to  our  atti- 
tude toward  the  matter  of  interest. 
A diploma  will  sometime  come  to 
have  a different  meaning.  Instead 
of  a record  of  credits,  it  should  be 
a guaranty  of  interests,  — interests 
large  and  intense.  If  one’s  interest 
in  a subject  has  been  aroused,  his 
credits  will  come. 

I should  like  to  see  even  the 
pictures  on  our  diplomas  changed. 
Instead  of  that  symbol  of  omnis- 
cience that  sits  in  majestic  sov- 
ereignty upon  an  engraving  of  the 
globe,  surrounded  by  all  the  instru- 
ments of  science  and  the  emblems 
of  art,  with  an  atmosphere  of  all 
regions  explored,  all  problems 


College  Ideals 


SI 

solved,  and  all  deeds  done,  I would 
substitute  simply  the  picture  of  a 
boy  or  girl  in  the  attitude  of 
awakening  interest,  — it  would 
matter  little  whether  searching  the 
seashore  for  a smoother  pebble, 
the  fields  for  a more  fragrant  flower, 
or  the  heavens  for  a more  brilliant 
star. 

And  certainly  the  reading  on 
our  diplomas  should  be  changed. 
Too  many  times,  if  we  read  between 
the  lines,  our  diplomas  say : This 
is  to  certify  that  Mr.  Blank  has 
completed  so  many  High  School 
credits  in  the  following  subjects, 
all  of  which  he  thoroughly  de- 
spises ; it  will  nevertheless  admit 
him  to  college,  where  with  the  aid 
of  more  distractions  and  more  ex- 
asperating teachers  he  can  com- 


52 


College  Ideals 


plete  his  hatred  of  all  fields  of 
knowledge.  I would  recommend 
the  following : This  certifies  that 
although  Mr.  Blank  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  make  credits  in  many 
subjects,  he  has  acquired  an  un- 
quenchable interest  in  all  of  them. 

What  interests  does  a man  have 
to  live  on  ? This  is  the  most  im- 
portant question  that  can  be  asked 
concerning  the  world  that  now  is. 
And  if  I mistake  not,  it  is  more 
elemental  than  any  question  that 
can  be  asked  concerning  the  world 
that  is  to  be.  For,  as  we  are  all 
agreed,  our  life  there  depends  upon 
the  start  we  make  here.  In  God’s 
economy  we  shall  begin  there  where 
we  leave  off  here.  So  far  as  human 
efforts  are  concerned,  the  here  and 
the  now  are  all-important.  In  all 


College  Ideals 


53 


the  aeons  of  endless  centuries  we 
shall  doubtless  make  progress,  but 
we  shall  never  quite  correct  a mis- 
step made  here  or  fail  to  benefit  by 
a moment  here  properly  used. 

What  should  be  the  interests  of 
a man’s  life  to  make  it  larger  and 
more  abundant,  and  how  can  the 
college  best  create  them  ? 

Vision.  — Life  is  reality  and  not 
dreams,  but  a man  without  a vision 
is  but  little  more  than  a beast. 
The  college  must  teach  well  its  les- 
sons in  science  and  language  and 
mathematics,  but  it  must  also 
impart  a vision  to  every  graduate. 
Most  of  our  failures  come  from  our 
being  unable  to  see  beyond  the 
present  moment.  If  a handsome 
young  man  of  eighteen  could  see 
his  ugly  self  at  sixty,  he  would  not 


54 


College  Ideals 


stain  his  teeth  and  unsteady  his 
step  and  wreck  his  nerves  with 
cigarettes.  Socrates  held,  and 
rightly  I think,  that  all  error  is  due 
to  failure  to  see ; that  no  man  who 
sees  right  will  go  wrong,  that  no  one 
would  make  a mistake  if  he  could 
see  all  time  as  he  sees  this  time. 

Has  our  college  course  helped 
us  to  have  a vision  ? The  follow- 
ing questions  were  prepared  by  a 
professor  in  the  University  of 
Chicago.  How  we  are  obliged  to 
answer  them  will  help  us  to  know 
whether  or  not  we  have  a vision. 
Here  are  his  questions  : 

Has  education  given  you  sympathy 
with  all  good  causes  and  made  you  espouse 
them  ? 

Has  it  made  you  public-spirited  ? 

Has  it  made  you  a brother  to  the  weak  ? 


College  Ideals  55 

Have  you  learned  how  to  make  friends 
and  keep  them  ? 

Do  you  know  what  it  is  to  be  a friend 
yourself  ? 

Can  you  look  an  honest  man  or  a pure 
woman  straight  in  the  eye  ? 

Do  you  see  anything  to  love  in  a little 
child  ? 

Will  a lonely  dog  follow  you  in  the 
street  ? 

Can  you  be  high-minded  and  happy  in 
the  meanest  drudgeries  of  life  ? 

Do  you  think  washing  dishes  and  hoe- 
ing corn  just  as  compatible  with  high 
thinking  as  piano  playing  or  golf? 

Are  you  good  for  anything  to  yourself? 

Can  you  be  happy  alone  ? 

Can  you  look  out  on  the  world  and  see 
anything  except  dollars  and  cents  ? 

Can  you  look  into  a mud  puddle  by  the 
wayside  and  see  the  clear  sky  ? 

Can  you  see  anything  in  the  puddle  but 
mud  ? 

Can  you  look  into  the  sky  at  night  and 
see  beyond  the  stars  ? 


College  Ideals 


56 


If  a college  has  helped  a student 
to  give  an  affirmative  answer  to 
these  questions,  it  has  imparted  to 
him  a vision  that  will  save  him. 

In  this  connection  I cannot  re- 
frain from  quoting  David  Starr 
Jordan’s  Appeal  to  Boys.  He  says  : 

“Your  first  duty  in  life  is  toward  your 
afterself.  So  live  that  your  afterself  — 
the  man  you  ought  to  be  — may  in  his 
time  be  possible  and  actual. 

“Far  away  in  the  years  he  is  waiting  his 
turn.  His  body,  his  brain,  his  soul  are  in 
your  boyish  hands.  He  cannot  help 
himself. 

“ What  will  you  leave  for  him  ? 

“ Will  it  be  a brain  unspoiled  by  lust  or 
dissipation,  a mind  trained  to  think  and 
act,  a nervous  system  true  as  a dial  in  its 
response  to  the  truth  about  you  ? Will 
you,  Boy,  let  him  come  as  a man  among 
men  in  his  time  ? Or  will  you  throw  away 


College  Ideals 


57 


his  inheritance  before  he  has  had  the 
chance  to  touch  it?  Will  you  turn  over 
to  him  a brain  distorted,  a mind  diseased  ? 
A will  untrained  to  action  ? A spinal  cord 
grown  through  and  through  with  devil 
grass  of  that  vile  harvest  we  call  wild  oats  ? 

“Will  you  let  him  come,  taking  your 
place,  gaining  through  your  experiences, 
hallowed  through  your  joys;  building  on 
them  his  own  ? 

“ Or  will  you  fling  his  hope  away,  decree- 
ing wantonlike  that  the  man  you  might 
have  been  shall  never  be  ? 

“This  is  your  problem  in  life;  the  prob- 
lem of  more  importance  to  you  than  any 
or  all  others.  How  will  you  meet  it,  as  a 
man  or  as  a fool  ? 

“When  you  answer  this,  we  shall  know 
what  use  the  world  can  make  of  you.” 

Yes,  and  we  shall  know  whether 
you  have  the  vision  that  will  enable 
you  to  make  use  of  the  world. 
Good,  honest,  hard  work  and 


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College  Ideals 


plenty  of  it ; a religious  training 
that  is  not  narrow  and  bigoted  but 
reverent  and  sincere ; a morality 
that  enables  the  student  to  respect 
the  person  and  the  property  of  an- 
other; the  maximum  of  social  im- 
provement ; a college  spirit  that 
is  free  from  malice  and  not  akin  to 
vandalism ; pride  in  achievement 
and  not  in  clothes  ; an  interest  that 
glows  and  kindles  into  a passion 
for  truth ; a vision  that  helps  the 
boy  of  to-day  to  catch  a glimpse  of 
the  world  of  to-morrow  and  the 
man  he  might  be ; — there  are 
doubtless  other  college  ideals,  but 
speaking  for  myself,  and  I hope  also 
for  you,  I shall  be  satisfied  to  pin 
to  these  the  faith  and  the  fortune 
and  the  future  of  our  college. 


■ 


